Dive and Discover : Exp 7 : New England Seamounts : Daily Updates

So here are a few of these comments, and a little bit of how they've helped me understand what it's like to be here.

First of all, at sea "normal" schedules go out the window. There's almost as much going on in the middle of the night as there is in the middle of the day.

Especially for some of the most dedicated scientists, sleep becomes a secondary concern. You lie down when you're done, and that's rare so you rarely lie down. I mentioned to biologist Tim Shank one night at around 2 a.m. that I hadn't ever seen him go off to sleep.

His response gives us our first quotation for this story: "It's a cruise, man. Sleep when you get home."

Yeah, the scientists are weird. Especially when Alvin comes up from a dive, they go nuts. Crowding around the sub's collection basket to see what came up from the deep, nothing in that moment is more important than some bizarre sea creatures, most of them dead.

The scientists have turned into obsessive creatures -- half-human and half--, well, let's let Expedition Leader Pat Hickey fill in the blanks:

"Here they come, the scientists, doing their vulture impersonations."

My favorite moments on the ship are the quiet ones. Granted there aren't many of these, but it's nice to take a few moments to stand in a corner of the deck and watch the water. For more than a few of us, the best way to do this is while holding a fishing rod.

Unfortunately, in this area of the North Atlantic, there aren't many fish. So you stand there, lazily casting your line. You've pretty much given up hope of catching anything. You hear that quiet. You take in how big it all is.

You watch the water. You watch the clouds. You watch the sun setting or the moon rising or both. It's beautiful, precious.

Unless you don't get fishing. Then, like 2nd Mate P.J. Leonard, your perspective's a little different and you come up with a comment like this:

"There's a fine line between fishing and standing there like an idiot."

The drama of the ocean is especially vibrant after a storm. You've survived the queasy feeling in your stomach and the getting knocked around. You come out on deck and the swells are still rising and falling. The clouds break up and the sun pokes through them.

I was glued to this scene when I first witnessed it. But I'm a sea rookie. I wondered if the guys who have done this for years remain as amazed by it all as I am, so I asked oiler Mike Spruill.

He didn't even pause when he responded: "When the ocean gods are angry, it's never boring.'

That, to me, pretty much said it all.